1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a nail ornamenting device for printing various patterns, characters or the like on a nail portion, which is utilized in the fields of cosmetology and fashion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, nail ornamentation was a professional service provided at beauty salons, or some people used to simply enjoy drawing patterns or the like on their nail portions by themselves. Recently, however, an increasing number of young people care about the ornament on their nail portions, and in response to this, artificial nails and nail stickers having various patterns drawn thereon have been appearing on the market. Also, a device has recently been developed that is capable of selecting a desired pattern from a plurality of patterns stored in a storage medium and printing the selected pattern on a nail portion.
Since the ornamentation on the nail portions provided at beauty salons is time-consuming and costly, it could not be broadly accepted as an everyday fashion item. On the other hand, artificial nails and nail stickers are relatively inexpensive, but tend to obstruct washing or kitchen work and may easily fall off. In addition, since artificial nails and nail stickers are of limited patterns and figures that are printed in advance, they have a low degree of freedom in selection.
As for the recently developed device, only the patterns stored in the storage medium in advance can be printed, and it has a problem of less originality and a low degree of freedom in selection. Even if it is possible to measure and determine the contour of a nail portion and to directly print a pattern thereon using a special printer, the unevenness and three-dimensional shape of the nail portion are not measured. Therefore, while the pattern can be clearly printed around the center of the nail portion, the print on a lowered and curved portion near the periphery of the nail portion is blurred.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to inexpensively and safely provide a nail ornamenting device with improved pattern originality and freedom of pattern choice, that can be readily used by everyone, by accurately grasping the contour and uneven shape of a nail portion, then obtaining three-dimensional data thereof and adjusting printing accordingly, thus enabling clear printing of a desired pattern or the like on any nail portion, and enabling additional writing of patterns and figures by a user himself/herself.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a nail ornamenting device comprising: print means for printing a pattern or the like on a nail portion of a finger; contour recognition means for recognizing the contour of the nail portion; unevenness recognition means for recognizing the unevenness of the nail portion; and three-dimensional display means for three-dimensionally displaying the recognized contour and shape of the nail portion.
The nail ornamenting device further comprises data input means to enable a user to select and write a pattern or the like by himself/herself.
The nail ornamenting device further comprises print supply means for printing out various image data such as image data of a pattern or the like, a combination of a pattern or the like and a nail portion, and a nail portion having a pattern or the like printed thereon.
Moreover, the nail ornamenting device of the present invention further comprises operation means for actuating the device by a coin or a token.
Also, the contour recognition means includes shooting means for obtaining information of the nail portion, and arithmetic means for digitizing the light and darkness of the shot contour of the nail portion.
Furthermore, the unevenness recognition means includes non-contact measuring means for identifying the unevenness without contacting the nail portion, and arithmetic means for digitizing the identified unevenness.
Also, the three-dimensional display means includes arithmetic means for forming a surface model of the contour and shape of the nail portion and forming a three-dimensional expression thereof, and display means for displaying an image of various information such as a three-dimensional image of the nail portion or a mapping image.
Moreover, a liquid crystal monitor having coordinate input means is used as the data input means.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention further comprises a groove or any other supporting tool for setting a finger thereon for printing on the nail.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the apparatus particularly pointed out in the written description and claims herein as well as the appended drawings.